New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the response of the Centre and other parties to the report of a three member panel suggesting a complete ban on government advertisements to glorify political personalities or the party in power.
A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Arun Mishra sought the response after taking on record the report of the expert panel.
The bench was hearing petitions filed by Common Cause, Centre for Public Interest Litigation and Foundation for Restoration of National Values seeking guidelines on government advertisements, particularly on the eve of elections.
When counsel Prashant Bhushan, appearing for CPIL, sought an interim order for banning such ads citing misuse of the power, the bench said passing such an order would amount to accepting the report without seeking response.
The panel had said “government advertisement materials should avoid photographs of political leaders and if it is felt essential for effective government messaging, only the photographs of the President-/PM or governor/CM should be used.”
It said, “The government advertisements shall not be used at patronising media houses or aimed at receiving favourable reporting for the party or person in power.
Advertising campaigns to be related to government responsibilities; Advertisement materials should be presented in an objective, fair and accessible manner and be designed to meet the objectives of the campaign; advertisement materials should be objective and not directed at promoting political interests of the ruling party; the government advertising shall maintain political neutrality and avoid glorification of political personalities and projecting a positive impression of the party in power or a negative impression of parties critical of the government.”
The panel said “Advertise-ment materials must not mention the party in the government by name; directly attack the views or actions of other in opposition; include party political symbol or logo or flag; aim to influence public support for a political party, candidate for election; or refer or link to the websites of political parties or politicians.”
The panel came to the finding that existing Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) guidelines did not govern the issues raised in the petition and did not lay down any criteria “for the publicly funded government advertisements to qualify for “public purpose” as opposed to partisan ends and political mileage.
These guidelines would apply to all government advertisements other than Classified Advertisements.
